Strong-arming alleged at ex-police chief's trial

April 14, 2009

Former Melrose Park police chief Vito Scavo used "extortion and strong-arm tactics" to get local institutions, including bars and restaurants, a Roman Catholic church, Navistar and Kiddieland amusement park, to use guards from his security firm for protection, a federal prosecutor charged today.

But an attorney for Scavo defended his client's law enforcement record and said Melrose Park is just another Mayberry.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen Andersson told a federal jury in his opening arguments in Scavo's racketeering and extortion trial that Scavo ran his private security firm out of the Melrose Park police station. He often used on-duty village police officers who were paid twice, once by the village and once by the client, for their service, Andersson said.

"You don't say no to the police chief," Andersson said.

Andersson claimed that a waste disposal company that was paying another security firm $17 an hour for a security guard was pressured into paying $45 per guard from Scavo's firm.

Andersson said that Scavo used the ill-gotten gain to purchase a Florida condominium, lease a $60,000 Cadillac Escalade and pay for an $11,000 big screen television.

Thomas Breen, Scavo's defense attorney, countered in his opening argument by saying that "police officers aren't terribly well paid and many have side jobs. Almost all police officers have worked side jobs in security."

Breen compared the Melrose Park police department to a social club and likened the village to television's fictional small town of Mayberry.

Scavo is on trial with former Deputy Police Chief Gary Montino, 52, and part-time officer Michael Wynn, 55, who the government claims assisted Scavo in the fraudulent scheme. The trial, presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Joan Gottschall, is expected to last a month.

Scavo, police chief from 1996 to 2006, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, extortion, obstruction of justice, mail and wire fraud and filing false personal and corporate federal income tax returns. Montino is charged with racketeering and mail fraud, and Wynn is charged with mail fraud.